Since we
started the redesign of our websites, we've begun to put together a
core set of web development principles to guide us. This isn't a new
methodology, but a way of looking at each project and each problem.
What these principles allow us to do is take a hard look at our solution and determine if it is truly the best one.
Two recent decisions can serve as good examples. During the past
four months, we faced two missing pieces – an e-commerce solution and a
content management solution. We experimented with a number of open
source packages, we sought advice and asked questions, we researched
extensively, and built basic prototypes. In the end, we decided to
customize an existing e-commerce solution (Zen Cart) and build our own content management system. Each problem demands a unique solution, one that meets its specific challenges.
Introducing COFFEE
We call our set of principles COFFEE development. What does COFFEE stand for?
Cheap
Open
Fast
Friendly
Easy
Excellent
We want everything we do to reflect these principles. Of course, the
first priority of our group or any web team within an organization, is
to be in-line with the vision and mission of Fellowship Church. This
isn't our own mission statement; COFFEE development is what we use to
help us share the mission and vision of Fellowship on the web.
What do each of these mean? Every day this week I'll tackle one of
these pieces and explain what it means to us and how we work to
implement it. I know this will help me and my team flesh out our
development approach and I hope it will benefit others as well. So,
come back tomorrow with the venti of your choice and we'll see what Cheap web development looks like. [Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey]